Former East Germany Teaches the United States the True Meaning of Heritage

St. Mary's and St. Severi at the Domberg  

I had the once in a lifetime opportunity to tour the area of former East Germany the summer of 2018 with the Utah Baroque Ensemble.  We sang in a number of cathedrals.  It changed my life in many ways and, reflecting on those experiences today, I wanted to share some of those insights especially in light of what we are currently experiencing politically in the United States.  Former East Germany is a particularly good example for us to study as their people experienced intense political upheaval:
Wiemar Republic to Nazi Germany to a Marxist-Leninist regime back to reunification to a Federal Republic.  This happened from 1930 to early 1990's a period of only 60 years.

One of the most amazing cities experiencing political turmoil through the centuries would be Erfurt.  The capital of Thuringia, Erfurt remains simple and unspoiled in many ways, all of them good.  There is so much history here, I could go on and on for several pages.  Most of these pictures are my own.  This is not a tourist excursion, however, it is a lesson we need to learn as Americans and also young people worldwide.

Two of the most famous historic churches and cathedrals sit adjacent:  Dom St. Marien (The Cathedral of St. Mary) and St. Severi at the Domberg both more than 1.200 years old in origin.  St. Mary's is the ordination site of Martin Luther where he began his ministry as a Roman Catholic Priest.  These two churches remained standing in spite the political upheaval associated with the Reformation and beyond.  These cathedrals have even switched from Roman Catholic owned, to Lutheran and back to Roman Catholic, still standing.  Young rioters getting a hint here?? 

Foolish Virgin Depicted

At the entrance to St. Mary's, the 10 virgins from the parables are depicted in statue form.  On one side stand the 5 wise and the other the 5 foolish.  Historically, the 5 foolish virgins are depicted as Jewish.  WHAT IF USING THE LOGIC OF RIOTERS TODAY THESE STATUES WERE TORN DOWN BECAUSE THEY ARE ANTI-SEMITIC?!  Incidentally, Erfurt also maintains one of the oldest synagogues in Europe dating back to the 11th century.  Amazing how art and architecture can still be allowed to stand even if does not depict the values 
of our time??!!    

Building on the grounds of the Petersberg Citadel

This is another fascinating piece of history in Erfurt: Petersberg Citadel.  The citadel was built on Petersberg hill, in the north-western part of the old town centre from 1665.  Erfurt has also been ruled by Sweden, Prussia, Napoleon, the German Empire, the Nazis, and post-World War II Soviet occupying forces, and it was part of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). All of these regimes used Petersberg Citadel and had an influence on its development.   Massive reconstruction has taken place since reunification.  This picture is a part of the building still in need of reconstruction but I snapped it for a reason.  LOOK! IT WAS NEVER LIT ON FIRE BY RIOTERS FOR SEVERAL HUNDRED YEARS IN SPITE OF IT REPRESENTING A NUMBER OF INVADING EMPIRES!

Finally, a crowning pièce de résistance.  This is a picture of the ruins of Frauen Kirche in Dresden Germany as restoration construction begins.  It was fire bombed in World War II and left unrestored until the German reunification.  


This is the altar in the newly restored Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady).  Stunning... Beautiful Baroque representation.  Watching the setting sun hit the gold leafing and statues was awe inspiring, the picture does not do it justice.  And then, singing on this very spot with a choir designed specifically in size and volume for a cathedral just like this has changed me forever.  I was not the same and the memory is there to always hold.

I only give a few examples here but enough is enough, America.  We have only been around a few hundred years, we do not have as many physical monuments as we see around the world but we should hold onto the few we do have at the very least!  Yes, there are Confederate statues and plantations that need to be put in their proper place, not destroyed.  The statue of Lincoln freeing the slaves could go in a museum and be replaced with one of him and Frederick Douglas looking each other in the eye and shaking hands.   But, erasing and destroying that part of history?  The majority should not stand for it.  

The one main thing we should hold to is our threatened creed: Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness.  We have not always lived up to that creed, but it is ours and that is worth something.  We have lived up to it better than almost every other nation and that also is worth not throwing it away and replacing it a Marxist alternative.  We have a very small in comparison, vocal, violent, loud and destructive faction among us wanting to destroy that creed, which is even more dangerous than the destruction of our monuments.  It is backed by the mainstream media, supported by the Democrat Party and feared by the Republican Party.  

My mother would call it throwing the baby out with the bath water.  The baby would be our American Heritage.  The dirty bath water is the racist tendencies and systems we still need to reform and fix (mostly perpetuated in the urban centers of blue states by elected officials for their own political gain).  The cultural revolution Marxist tactics of erasing our history and classifying it as one hundred percent racist and evil needs to be refuted and defeated.  Tearing down our monuments is just the beginning of what they really want to destroy, they will not stop there.  This group will tear down the Freedom capital we have built with the blood, sweat, tears of our Fallen, our Vets, our ingenuity, our innovators, our hard workers. 

So, how do we begin a dialogue?  I am not sure.  This feels like another Civil War.  We do need to be better at drawing a line in the sand and holding our ground until they can calm down a little. 

Germany managed to do it primarily because deep down culturally they have a strong sense of their history in spite of whatever political winds may be blowing.   I know we have that in America, we just need to get back our back bone and stand, not kneel.         

Liberty or Death in Modern America?

So, here is the real problem as I see it: Americans have been experiencing moral decay since the 1960's. As a result, the definition of Liberty as defined by the American founding has changed. We all should remember the French Revolution- why did it fail so badly at first? Liberty has come to mean in America, like it did in France at the time: "Let me do whatever I want, I do not care if it has moral implications or consequences." Now, I have heard people on the right say we have to earn our liberty. This is not true either because we are born with inalienable rights. WHAT WE HAVE TO DO IS KEEP IT. AND, KEEP IT WITHIN A MORAL CONTEXT OR IT NO LONGER FITS THE DEFINITION OF TRUE LIBERTY AS ESTABLISHED IN THE FOUNDING OF THIS COUNTRY. WE MOST LIKELY WILL NOT KEEP IT IN THE PURE SENSE WITHOUT MORALITY OR VIRTUE.

In the context of the Pandemic then, here is the problem from 2 prominent amoral perspectives:

1) We have a large number of people, including the media and politicians in many states, not willing to move the Liberty needle in this country to free a neighbor from bankruptcy fearing they may get the disease and die. Or, fearing the death of somebody else and they being held or feeling responsible. Death in a godless, meaningless empty world is it- the end. There is nothing worse than Death. And, at this point with any level of reopening, more people will die, perhaps they would die anyway but this could speed up the process. This group says we need to rely on science and data only because their main purpose is to keep us alive. This is the case, even though the virus is bad but not as bad as originally expected.

2) Some facing bankruptcy, are willing to go and protest on the streets without protection or social distancing. They are concerned about their rights but apparently not the right to live of others. Granted, the virus is bad, not as bad as originally predicted,however, this group does not care as much at least right now. Now, their livelihoods are threatened beyond what the media and politicians experience so I might empathize a little more here as people become understandably desperate. But, I could see a situation where some in this group will not take a safe re-opening seriously, only think about themselves and not practice social distancing, masks, etc.

Here is the answer: re-establish liberty with it's moral foundation. Realize that yes, all our lives are at risk but those need to be weighed against the suffering of ALL the vulnerable, not just what we want personally from the situation. When Patrick Henry coined the "Liberty or Death" phrase, he and a number of Founders put their lives on the line, their sacred honor, they knew what was at stake but they jumped into the fray so not just they, but their country men and women could be free. To keep Liberty, they were willing to give up even their very lives. If they had the attitude to Liberty that our media and politicians have today, there would be no America as we know it.

To free us from the devastating effects of COVID-19, we will have to make a similar moral decision based on the interests and liberties of everyone. We can re-open safely. We need to re-open safely soon because the American and world economy can not sustain the shut down economically. It is not merely an inconvenience. Millions depend on the American economy and millions will die of starvation unless we open soon. And, we have to accept that more people will die from the virus. Death is a part of life that we try to deny and hide behind the mask of medical and scientific technology on a cultural level. Meaning in life comes not from just avoiding death at all costs, it comes when we sacrifice a piece of our own lives for the liberty and betterment of others. There is a place we can meet somewhere between death by COVID-19 or death by poverty caused by COVID-19, but it will require that original morally centered American Founded Spirit of Liberty.

The Isolated Men Among Us: The Real Reason They Mass Murder and Some Cultural Answers

Samuel Klug and John Neff place candles around a makeshift memorial at the scene of the mass shooting. (Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post)

I am with Ben Shapiro and was inspired by his podcast:
American Horror Story | The Ben Shapiro Show Ep. 832

We wish as a nation we could all take up a Jewish like
tradition of Shiva: a week long period of grief and mourning after the funeral before re-entering day to day life.  We need to bury the dead and grieve with no blaming other than those truly responsible. However, since the Far Left media, and several Democrats and Republicans refuse to honor the dead this way and use their blood and deaths for political gain, I felt compelled to give a dose of reality as soon as possible.   

Inspired again by Ben Shapiro referring to a few studies in
his above listed podcast, my comments are based on them as well:

LA Times Op-Ed August 4th 2019:
We have studied every mass shooting since 1966.
Here’s what we’ve learned about the shooters 

Business Insider Feb 14, 2019:
School shooters usually show these signs of distress
long before they open fire research shows

In addition, I have added my own anecdotal evidence from 30+ years of
working with young men,at risk young men and my own teenage son
and his peers.  I do not see much of this kind of analysis in our politically
charged media from both sides of the aisle. The exact same right or left
political ideology is not a common thread in every case even though it
does play a role.  The Dayton Ohio killer supports Elizabeth Warren and
socialism, the El Paso killer claims to be an anti-immigrant racist and
eco-terrorist. Is Elizabeth Warren to blame and her political rallies to be
banned?  Absolutely not or the 1st Amendment, one of our most sacred,
is at risk. I do not like Elizabeth Warren’s ideology or Donald Trump
personally but should we promote “fake news” propagandized blame
tactics to ban speech by those we disagree with politically or do not like
personally?  As we see around the world, government or even
democratically supported tyranny by a majority to silence citizens due
to their political views can turn into another form of terrorism we do not
need either.

The common factors among all mass shooters are related to
our deteriorating culture and how it affects those prone to psychopathic,
sociopathic and violent tendencies. 

Point of clarification before exposing our cultural defects: The victims and
their families must have justice and the killers must be held accountable
and are responsible. They made the choice to premeditate murdering
innocence brutally and without remorse. We can discuss prevention and
early intervention for those men who will willingly choose this path of
destruction but protection of victims and potential victims should be the
main priority. When we hear the stories of parents throwing themselves
in front of their infants to save them heroically from gun fire, the ultimate
blame lies in the evil hands of those pulling the trigger. We can come up
with a million reasons and ways our culture contributes to the creation of
psychopathic killers but ultimately, they are the responsible party. And, if
we see the signs in individuals around us, we need to create the laws and
tools to act early for protection. The Dayton killer had a hit list a number of
months prior to the shooting that several people witnessed? Why could we
not have stopped him sooner with this information?

These are some of the key contributing cultural shortfalls:

1) Dysfunctional family relationships arising from our divorce culture.
I define "divorce culture" as not just the rise of divorce itself but the
tendency for parents, adults, and children following parents and adults
to focus on self and isolate, neglect and or abuse children in or out of
marriage.  Child Abuse is on the rise in this country.  
We also divorce mentally ill family members from our lives all the time,
and our communities and local laws are not always designed to help them
or their families. Based on the studies cited above, the vast majority of
mass shooters experienced early childhood trauma and exposure to
violence at a young age. The nature of their exposure included parental
suicide, physical or sexual abuse, neglect, domestic violence, and/or severe
bullying.  Divorce culture is also prevalent among peers who bully these
isolated children. 

2) Our society worships too much at the alter of narcissism and nihilism.
Young men turn to this through more isolation and anger after family and
social estrangement and or abuse/trauma. Hopelessness and
abandonment of God and faith is thrown into the mix or an acceptance
there is NOT something greater than themselves to curb their behavior and
give their life, and in their minds, the lives of others deeper meaning.
Atheists may disagree with this but even the ones I have met believe life
at least has meaning and purpose. Life is empty of an empathetic human
purpose to these men.  

3) The Internet and social media as an escape device. Isolated young men
are particularly prone to the violent side of this.

4) Lack of rites of passage for young men- testosterone is a great tool but
can turn into a weapon against society when not channeled properly.

5) Access by this violent group of young men to firearms even after they
show multiple signs of acting out a mass shooting. 

6) Social Media notoriety and instant fame appealing to their sociopathic
and or psychopathic personalities- both from the fact they see other
people flourishing (not themselves) and the fame mass shooters receive
from endless news cycles.   

We find mass killers are those most deeply affected by these corrupt cultural influences,  They may or may not have been influenced by all listed above but all of them have at least two of these problems in addition to mental illness.  Everywhere in between on the spectrum many of our young men are scattered, isolated and suffering; they may not kill but they are at risk. Those with teenage boys know what that means personally.  When Trump talks about the cultures in other countries, he should get better at pointing out our shortcomings: Lack of morality, self restraint, rites of passage, belief in God, and unconditional love in families.  Too much impure screen time, pornography, abuse and notoriety based on violence as a substitute for rites of passage and familial love.

A young man rejected too many times by those who are supposed to be closest to him turns to angry or non feeling violent means thinking it will comfort him.  Gang violence is rooted in these things as well. As this past deadly weekend in Chicago (the media is mostly ignoring for political reasons) demonstrates. Of course, in spite of those reaching out to the young man, he may turn to violence anyway as he is tempted by our ever increasing degenerating culture.   This is a cultural and societal problem, not one federal government can totally control. Answers primarily need to come from families, communities and churches. It needs to start with better care taking of our pre-adolescent boys before it takes hold in their character. 

Obviously, many young boys survive and thrive in spite of abuse and family dysfunction in childhood.  It does come down to personal choice, ultimately, in addition to help they may receive from others along the way.  There are ways they can heal.  I have also personally seen many mentally healthy young men raised by single parents.  Some of these single parents did have help from extended family members, communities and church groups others did not.  But, the main factor was they loved their boys, did not neglect them and did the best they could despite the circumstances.  Again, it is not divorce itself we are talking about here.  It is a divorce culture that increasingly neglects children for selfish reasons.  

So, what are the solid solutions after we expose our decaying culture? 
More gun legislation banning ownership for all citizens? More government
control and internet censorship? These could be considered legislation
wise but when we allow government that kind of leeway, liberties for all will
be lost and become yet another cultural problem.  Targeting these violent
young men so they do not gain access to firearms when we detect clear
early warning signs? Good protective measure. Tracking them like we do
terrorists online?  Good protective measure. Offer more security in public
places/schools using volunteer retired, trained and armed policeman?
Good protective measure.

These are good and needed protective measures often overlooked by cries
to ban gun ownership for everyone.  Targeting the root cause, however, we
have a personal responsibility to reach out and love our boys better in our
families and as a community: denounce divorce culture. We need to watch
for signs and educate each other on these signs. We need to create laws
that allow earlier intervention preventing fire arm purchase by these young
men and involuntary hospitalization. Help the at risk especially as
examples of good striving male role models. That is the starting point of
cultural change, start with the family and community units.  Teach them
morality, self restraint and give them wholesome activities with other stable
grown men. And, limit their violent screen time in the process.  

Then, we need to openly address the problem on a national level. 
It was not easy for me to find these common cultural and psychological
trends with all mass shooters to discover the root of the problem.  These
studies were buried under headlines blaming Trump and the people who
voted for him with no solutions. Isolation is a key common factor but the
media is reluctant to blame our corrupt culture for influencing this
isolationism if it does not meet their political agenda.  The Far Left has
been known to encourage broken marriages, radical feminism and every
generation as a “me” generation placing "self fulfillment" as a “right” taking
precedence before children and families.

We need to discourage divorce culture and its propensity for abuse and
neglect where we can.   We need to actually call attention to it and treat
it as a shameful thing when yet another mass shooter kills or we see yet
another violent act. The rejection and abuse of our own young at any
point in or out of a legal divorce should be shunned.  Where is the
"#MeToo" like movement for neglected and abused children and boys?
Less promiscuity and narcissism as a nation and more commitment to
family and those closest to us daily. More faith and more God, not as a
specific doctrine or religious sect, but as a general understanding that
He watches over us and gives meaning to our lives and to the lives of
others. Thus empathy is spawned and suicide by mass shooting does
not become a viscious fantasy fulfilled.  The list goes on and on; we can
fill in the blanks. Unfortunately, we have already started down this
pathway for several decades so we will probably see more mass
shootings until we more fully address the root of the problem from a
cultural standpoint. It is up to us as a culture and a people.